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At least 37,000 healthcare and related jobs in rural communities would be lost if Mitch McConnell and the Republican U.S. Senate successfully rolled back the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, a new analysis shows.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) speak to members of the media outside of the White House June 27, 2017. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“If the AHCA moves forward, we further estimate a loss of 37,000 healthcare and community jobs across the country as hospitals cut employees and [state] costs to match the reduction in this important source of revenue,” Michael Topchik, national leader at the Chartis Center for Rural Health and senior vice president at iVantage Health Analytics, wrote in a new report.

The Chartis Center for Rural Health looked at the legislation’s impact on 2,200 rural hospitals and found great economic harm to rural America of the GOP legislation, also known as Trumpcare, which would cause 22 million Americans to lose health insurance.

“If the loss in revenue pushes more rural hospitals into closure, the associated job loss could be much higher,” the Chartis Center's Topchik wrote in his report. “Combined this would create a $4.1 billion drag on the nation’s GDP from the rural providers affected.”

Hospitals, in particular, tend to be the primary healthcare safety net in rural areas, which don’t often have urgent care facilities or retail clinics operated by
Walgreens Boots Alliance or
CVS Health.

Republicans who are defending the AHCA and the Senate legislation say states would have time to adjust. But analysts at Fitch disagree.

“The speed and scale of that contraction could be difficult for states to manage and could affect both the states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA and those that did not,” Fitch said. “The 2020 and 2021 implementation dates for most Medicaid provisions would likely result in pressure on states to cut funding to local governments, public colleges and universities and healthcare providers.”